Variable and Stable Clusters: Variation in the Realisation of Consonant Clusters

This article reports on between-individual and within-individual variation in consonant cluster reduction strategies (where C 1 C 2 is realised as C ( or C 2 ) among young children. The empirical base of the study is a Dutch database with over 9,000 instances of C 1 and C 2 realisations of 23 word-initial consonant clusters from 45 children aged between two and three years old. The study finds that within-child variation is very limited, whereas between-child variation occurs. It is also shown that there are typological implications; that is, realising C 2 in cluster y , implies realising C 2 in cluster y, but not vice versa. The data provide support for the position that variation can be accounted for by a finer grained notion of sonority where the sonority distance between the two consonants in a cluster plays a crucial role in establishing prosodic constituency.